Reid's First Haircut

Reid got his very first haircut today! We took him to the barber shop that Jeb, my dad, my grandpa, and a lot of other police officers go to and let Allen give him a little trim. Jeb wanted to shave it all off really short for the summer, but I said absolutely not...he is still just a baby! Reid did so good and didn't even cry. The only time he was fussy was when we tried to make him take a picture with Allen after his haircut was finished.

Sitting in the chair like a big boy!

Once the Allen got the clippers out daddy had to hold him!

He's starting to look like a little boy instead of a little baby!

Hey...This guy just cut off my mullet!

After the haircut...such a pretty baby!

Up to the Hype: Car Seat/Stroller System

Orbit Infant Travel System & Toddler Car SeatMy mom and dad surprised me with the Orbit Infant Travel System the day I brought Reid home from the hospital. I had never heard of the Orbit brand before but when I first saw it sitting in my living room it looked unlike any car seat and stroller I had ever seen. The Infant Travel System comes with the infant carseat, which fits babies up to 22 pounds, the stroller base, and the car seat base. We also got the infant bassinet and rocker. The reason this product lives "up to the hype" is because the car seat swivels 360 degrees! When you are putting the baby into the car you can swivel the car seat to face you, making it way easier to buckle in the infant. Also, the car seat fits easily onto the car seat base and stroller base by just squeezing up on both side handles then letting them go once the seat in on the base. The car seat also swivels on the stroller making it easy to turn in any direction (this is especially works great at dinner when pulling the stroller up to a table). Another bonus is that the bassinet also fits onto the stroller base allowing you to push the infant in the bassinet. I would push Reid all around the house in his bassinet and would push him into the bathroom while I was in the bath or shower. I love this system!!! We would place the bassinet on the rocker and put it by the couch, and a lot of nights Reid would sleep in the bassinet on the stroller and we would push it up by the bed. Also, this system is ideal for travel. When staying the night at my parents' house or at a hotel we would take the bassinet and stroller base (which by the way, is so easy to fold up) and that is what Reid would sleep in at night by the bed. The stroller has neat little cup holders, has great wheels and is super easy to push, and the handles easily slide up and down which enables the stroller to be the perfect height for you! Look! Nicole Richie even had the Orbit system for baby Harlow!

This is the Orbit toddler car seat made to use after the infant has outgrown the infant seat. This seat also fits on the same base and swivels as well. There is a catch to this one though...when facing backwards (recommendations are to keep the infant rear-facing until 1 year of age AND 20 pounds) the seat still uses the base, but when turning the seat to face forward the base is no longer used and braces must be attached to either side and the seat buckled in. This makes the seat a lot more of a hassle to remove to set on the stroller once the child is forward facing. Also, the child is heavier by now making it a little harder to lift the seat anyway. This is why Orbit makes a smaller, lightweight toddler stroller seat that attaches to the stroller seat once the child is forward facing in the toddler seat. However, this is an added expense.
I highly recommend the infant travel system and bassinet set, but when it comes to a toddler car seat, although this one is very good, I think others would work just as well along with a lightweight umbrella-type stroller (Maclaren?). Then you're not having to deal with either lifting a huge, heavy seat to put on the stroller or having to buy the extra toddler stroller seat.

This picture shows the toddler stroller seat (left) and the toddler car seat being lifted onto the stroller base (right)

What's Hot:

Infant Travel System2 super cute color options - Black/slate or Mocha/khaki

EPP foam-lined car seatexcellent safety features

swivel ability

easy base docking with SmartHub

bassinet component

ability to buy replacement parts and accessories easily

options for adding a color to the toddler stroller seat in sky, raspberry, or lime

What's Not:

keeping up with a toddler car seat, stroller base, and toddler stroller seat

the price (but infant system is well worth the price!)

Price:

Infant Travel System (includes car seat, car seat base, & stroller base) - $900

Bassinet (includes bassinet and rocker) - $280

Toddler car seat - $360

Toddler stroller seat - $220

Up to the Hype

This is a new posting I'm going to be making periodically on my blog. I must give the credit for this idea to my mother, who originally thought of this great idea. In these postings I'm going to be giving information and my opinion regarding things that "live up to the hype." This will include all and anything, from cell phones and sippy cups and clothing and toys... to vitamins and places and events and recipes and food (well, probably not so much of the latter since I rarely cook!). I'm going to try and discuss why it is that this particular "thing" lives up to the hype, as well as mentioning the negatives about it, if any, and special considerations. I hope this will be helpful to other mothers, future mothers, women, grandmothers, and all people in general. Keep in mind that this is my personal opinion and that some people reading this blog may have had their own personal experiences with some of the things that I mention and may have formed different opinions. These are only my thoughts so do with them as you like. Also, I am not being paid by any person, company, or organization to promote their particular "item" or "thing." I'm doing this on my own account in order to help others, as something like this would have helped me out (especially in my role as a new mother).

He Shoots...He Scores!

Here is a video clip of Reid playing basketball in his playroom. I think he's pretty good at it, but I may be a little biased :) Reid LOVES balls of all types and sizes, but his favorite is his "bak-ball." We play lots of "bak-et-ball" at our house!

Fantastic Father

The righteous man leads a blameless life; blessed are his children after him.

~ Proverbs 20:7

I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection.

~ Sigmond Freud

One father is more than a hundred Schoolmasters.

~ George Herbert

A man's desire for a son is usually nothing but the wish to duplicate himself in order that such a remarkable pattern may not be lost to the world.

~ Helen Rowland

Small boys become big men through the influence of big men who care about small boys.

Fathers, like mothers, are not born. Men grow into fathers and fathering is a very important stage in their development.
~ David Gottesman




Noble fathers have noble children.
~ Euripides




Train up a child in the way which he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.
~ Proverbs 22:6



Blessed indeed is the man who hears many gentle voices call him father.
~ Lydia M. Child





I talk and talk and talk, and I haven't taught people in 50 years what my father taught by example in one week.
~ Mario Cuomo



It is easier for a father to have children than for children to have a real father.
~ Pope John XXIII



A man never stands as tall as when he kneels to help a child.
~ Knights of Pythagoras


Don't wait to make your son a great man - make him a great boy.



When you teach your son, you teach your son's son.
~ The Talmud



Giving your son a skill is better than giving him one thousand pieces of gold.
~ Chinese Proverb



Fatherhood is pretending the present you love most is Soap-on-a-Rope.
~ Bill Cosby



You will find that if you really try to be a father, your child will meet you halfway.
~ Robert Brault



It is a wise father that knows his own child.
~ William Shakespeare


By the time a man realizes his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he is wrong.
~ Charles Wadworth



He didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it.
~ Clarence Budington Kelland



There are three stages of a man's life: He believes in Santa Claus, he doesn't believe in Santa Claus, he is Santa Claus.




The father who does not teach his son his duties is equally guilty with the son who neglects them.
~ Confucius


Boys are beyond the range of anyone's sure understanding, at least when they are between the ages of 18 months and 99 years.
~ James Thurber


My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me.
~ Jim Valvano



Fathers are angels sent from heaven.



My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, "You're tearing up the grass." "We're not raising grass," Dad would reply. "We're raising boys."
~ Harmon Killebrew


For thousands of years, father and son have stretched wistful hands across the canyon of time.

~ Alan Valentine

Happy Father's Day

to my good-looking, kid-raising, big-smiling, hard-working, fun-finding, chore-helping, sweet-kissing, good-loving, dream-sharing, hand-holding, heart-warming

husband

You're everything I ever wanted in a man - and then some.

I love you - Kell

Higgins Family Reunion

Families are like fudge - mostly sweet with a few nuts.

Last weekend we had the Higgins Family Reunion at my parent's house. It was a wonderful day filled with lots of laughs and lots of relatives, some that I met for the very first time.

My Mother's Mother - Carol Higgins LaFevers and her husband Buzz and her three daughters, Gayla McKenzie Arnold & husband Tommy, Karen McKenzie Cook & husband Kelly, and Johnna McKenzie Ervin & husband Mike, and their children, Amy, Seth (with daughter Emma), & Katie, Kelli Ann (with husband Jeb & son Reid), & Kassidy, Mica, Jon-Michael, Trey, & Grayson

Granny Carol and her brother and sisters: Pat, Harold, Claudine, Willa, & Carol

Uncle Buddy's Gang

Aunt Willa's Group

Aunt Claudine's Bunch

A Few of Aunt Pat's Clan

Uncle Buddy...the leader of the group

My gorgeous granny

~~~~~

Reid was most interested in eating ice...

And throwing ice!

~~~~~

Obviously my Aunt Johnna said something funny...not unusual for her.

Pretty Mica

Not happy about taking family pictures Grayson?

Handsome Trey

Kass texting and dad trying to get Kass to tell him who he is texting!






My little family








Emma Elizabeth Arnold and her Aunt Katie




Uncle Tommy, Aunt Gayla, and Amy



~~~~~



Grannny was having such a great day with all her family!



Jon was good at keeping Reid entertained!

The reunion was a huge success with over 80 relatives! We ate Bar-B-Que, went swimming, and told stories about old times. What a great way to start off the summer spending time with those we love the most. Hopefully next year we will be able to have another Higgins Family Reunion!

~~~~~

The family is a haven in a heartless world. ~ Christopher Lasch